House Renovation Update

As I mentioned in my 2013 resolutions post, my DIY goals are kinda on hold for now. 2013 is the year of the next wave of renovations. There’s the asbestos to get rid of and the roof to redo and the upstairs to properly renovate. I’m excited. We’re taking a major step in building our nest. These last couple of weeks have seen movement in the glacially slow process that is house renovation. So I thought I’d take a minute to tell you how it’s going.

Last week we took two steps forward in the removal of the asbestos. As a reminder here are the two major sources we’re dealing with…

There are the pipes in the basement that are wrapped with an asbestos insulation.And almost every single floor in the house is made of 5% asbestos tiles that are glued on with an asbestos glue.

Because of the pervasiveness of the problem, we are doing the removal work in two waves. The first is the top floor and stairwell. While that’s being done we’ll have to move everything out of those spaces and camp out in the ground and basement floors. Once that’s done, we’ll renovate the top floor and fix the roof, then move upstairs, empty the ground and basement floors and move on to the second wave of asbestos removal. But because it’s a hazardous material, before any of this can be done, we have to get permits.

Before Christmas, we put together the file with all the appropriate lab tests and documents and sent them off to the asbestos removal company so that they could apply for the permit with the government. This past week, we got a response in the form of a site visit. The inspector came around with her clipboard and checked everything out. Fingers crossed, it looks like everything is in order and we should have the permit soon. We’ve agreed with the asbestos removal company that phase 1 will start just after Easter – yay. In the meantime, there are a few preparations underway. The first is to prepare the space: completely empty it, and remove anything that would get in the way. For example, a radiator too close to the floor. If you look at the above picture, you’ll see what I’m talking about. Last Wednesday we had a plumber in to remove it. You would not believe the amount of black gunk that gets caught in a radiator in the course of 60 years – ick!

The roof project is also moving forward. Here’s what it looked like before September, without insulation, just the way it was when it was built. And here’s what it looked like after the first set of roofers had finished.

Colossal renovation fail! Long story short. They were good at what they knew how to do – namely slanted roofs. They didn’t know how to properly do a flat roof and they didn’t know they didn’t know. And it went downhill from there. Needless to say, we don’t trust them to fix it. We contacted the architect that managed our kitchen project to come and help us with the 2nd floor renovations that’ll have to be done after the first phase of the asbestos removal and asked her to help us find someone to do it properly. Last week we moved forward with that too. Three different roofers came to look and give us quotes. The plan is to have one picked out and ready to go as soon as the asbestos is safely out of the way.

And finally there are the plans for the 2nd floor. The architect has made a preliminary drawing and we’re slowly drawing together the details. With any luck, it’ll be underway by May. So, that’s it – all the news that’s fit to print. Bit by bit we’re making our house a home =)